Sales trends, statistics don’t apply to all – Las Cruces Sun

The National Association of Realtors captured the nation’s attention when it reported on existing-home sales on Dec. 21, saying that “November’s sales pace is now the highest since February 2007”. Two days earlier, the Realtors Association of New Mexico issued a press release pertaining to the combined sales of new and existing homes in the state, which carried the headline: “November Housing Numbers Keep 2016 On Pace to Be Record Year”.

Sounds pretty good, huh? Generally speaking, it does. On the other hand, the numbers are an amalgamation of sales statistics from different areas of the country and the state and may or may not apply to a particular locale, such as here in Las Cruces and Doña Ana County. Drilling down into the data provides a more geographical, and dare I say more accurate, view of local market conditions. What follows is a closer look at what the numbers reveal.

National: Realtors sold 467,500 existing homes, townhomes and condominiums and co-ops in November. The annual sales rate of 5.61 million units was derived by assuming “what the total number of actual sales for a year would be if the relative pace for that month were maintained for 12 consecutive months,” according to NAR. That’s the highest rate since the 5.79 million pace set in February of ’07. The numbers don’t apply to all areas of the country, however.

Existing-home sales in the Midwest declined by 2.2 percent from October to a rate of 1.33 million units, which is still almost 19 percent above a year ago. The $180,300 median price was a 6.5 percent improvement over last November’s benchmark median. Sales in the Northeast rose 8.0 percent to 810,000 units, which is 15.7 percent higher than one year ago. The median price rose by 3.3 percent to $263,000.

Sales in the South are now 11.6 percent above last year’s pace, rising to an annual rate of 2.2 million units. The median price jumped 9.2 percent to $206,900. And finally, in the West (which is pretty much everywhere west of the Rockies), the annual rate of 1.25 million units set in November was 1.6 percent below where it was one year ago. The median price rose 8.5 percent to $345,400 over the year, however.

State: According to RANM, Realtors sold 18,237 new and existing homes, townhomes and condominiums during the first eleven months of 2016 – an increase of 6 percent over one-year ago. The statewide YTD median price, where half sold for less and half sold for more, rose by $5,000 to $185,000. Regrettably, not all counties produced positive results.

Of 32 counties surveyed, 19 posted higher YTD sales production than they did one-year ago, while production declined in 10 of the counties. Three remained the same or did not report. The YTD median price rose in 22 counties, fell in nine, and remained the same in one.

Local: I’m happy to report that the Las Cruces and Doña Ana County areas were two that produced positive results in both production and values. Local Realtors sold 1,529 new and existing properties through November, which is an increase of 181-units, or 13.4 percent over last year, according the Dec. 26 report from the Las Cruces Association of Realtors. This year’s YTD median price of $159,000 was $2,120, or 1.4 percent, higher than last year’s median of $156,880.

Well, there you have it. Not all regions, states and local areas posted positive results over the past year. We did, however!

See you at closing.

Gary Sandler is a full-time Realtor and president of Gary Sandler Inc., Realtors in Las Cruces. He can be reached at (575) 642-2292 or Gary@GarySandler.com.